How the Super Soaker's Pinch-Trigger and Built-In Tank Work

A 1994 patent by Lonnie Johnson for a high-pressure toy water gun featuring a built-in, non-detachable tank pressurized by a hand pump and controlled by a simple pinch-valve trigger.

What it covers

This patent describes a high-pressure toy water gun that uses compressed air to shoot a continuous stream of water. A hand pump built into the gun's body forces air into a non-detachable external water tank, pressurizing the air and water inside. A flexible tube runs from the bottom of this tank, through the gun's barrel, to the nozzle. To keep the water from shooting out immediately, a spring-loaded metal bar pinches this tube shut. When you pull the trigger, it lifts the pinch bar off the tube, allowing the highly pressurized water to escape through the narrow nozzle in a powerful, steady stream.

What it doesn't cover

• —Does not cover water guns with detachable water tanks that screw off to be refilled.
• —Does not cover water guns that use motorized or electric pumps to pressurize the water.
• —Does not cover trigger mechanisms that use traditional sliding piston valves instead of pinching a flexible tube.
• —Does not cover pressurized water guns where the pressurized chamber is completely separate from the main water reservoir.

The clever bit

Instead of a complex, expensive, and leak-prone mechanical valve, the trigger uses a simple spring-loaded bar to pinch a flexible tube shut. Even cleverer: if the air pressure inside the tank gets dangerously high, the pressure itself forces the pinch bar open slightly, acting as an automatic safety release valve.

Why it matters

This patent represents a key evolution of Lonnie Johnson's famous Super Soaker technology. By integrating a non-detachable, high-pressure tank directly onto the gun's frame and using a simple pinch-tube trigger, it made high-power water guns cheaper to manufacture, safer, and less prone to leaking than earlier models with removable bottles.

Real-world examples

• 1.Larami Super Soaker models with fixed, non-removable tanks
• 2.Classic air-pressurized toy water blasters from the mid-1990s